officials tell us is a credible threat of a major coordinated series of attacks in britain, france and possibly the u.s. the official said no specific time or place was known, but that the plan -- involving commando like attacks against economic targets in europe -- had been detected after the capture this summer of a radicalized german muslim who reportedly had been training with teams of others in pakistan for the attacks. now a worldwide manhunt is underway. among those being sought are a group of other radicalized germans who have been training at terror camps in pakistan, producing videos in german to gain more recruits. german officials say some of the recruits actually came from the same mosque in hamburg where the 9/11 hijackers gathered. the mosque was closed in early august after officials learned of the plot. >> most of these guys share a very pronounced anti-americanism. >> reporter: officials believe at least one team of german jihadists was dispatched to europe over the summer, travelling on german passports which require no visa to enter the u.s. u.s. law enforcement off

struck. >> it's going to kill us. i mean, because, you know, everybody that would come visit the atlantic beach for labor day week send now going to be looking at the exact same forecast that we see. >> reporter: at hardware stores, up and down the carolina coast -- >> gas cans. flashlights. batteries. >> reporter: the customers were anxious. the stores were busy and running out of generators and other supplies. >> we just bought a radio, portable radio. and tv. >> reporter: everyone here is watching this storm closely tonight, crossing their fingers, hoping it jogs to the east. diane? >> all right, steve. and from steve osunsami, we go to sam champion, who is in cedar point, north carolina, tonight, tracking earl. and sam, what about that possibility there could be a high pressure system that blocks the storm and knock it back out into the ocean? >> reporter: diane, two things happened today. and one of them was that cold front that's going to eventually steer earl slowed down today. but earl slowed down today, too. what that means is, they will connect, but a little too late to

>> all right. a lot of happy people at ike's at this point. >> that is going to do it for us. than >>> tonight on "world news," terror warning. top government security officials tell why they're concerned about another terrorist attack. >>> hot seat. angry victims confront the giant egg producer about the salmonella in his eggs. >>> about face. an original promoter of lasik eye surgery now says he was wrong and lasik surgery should stop. >>> sex trade. 12 and 13-year-old girls recruited at the mall. a "world news" investigation. >>> and, bible wonder. the red sea simply parts for moses. 21st century science has a new idea of what really might have happened. >>> good evening. since 9/11, all of us in america have lived with the prospect of another terrorist attack. and today, top counterterrorism officials appear before congress with a warning. they said the danger is as grave as it has been since september 11th, nine years ago, and they said al qaeda has new ways of recruiting people inside this country. pierre thomas followed all the testimony today and joins us now. pierre? >> re

on us. >> reporter: there is a feeling here of relief that no one was hurt and that everyone will bounce back quickly. david? >> steve osunsami. steve, thanks very much. >>> the national hurricane center is tracking earl as we move into this holiday weekend. and so we turn to bill read again tonight, the head of the national hurricane center. and bill, where is earl right now and how long before we're out of the woods on this? >> right now, earl is south of new england and moving northeast at over 20 miles an hour. it will speed up overnight, come just south of nantucket and cape cod, and then move off into the canadian maritimes during the day on saturday. so, after people get up saturday morning, the skies are going to start clearing. >> and that is the good news. you told me earlier that you have your eye on several systems already in the pipeline. what does it look like? >> this is the wave that with us was gaston. another wave that came off of africa yesterday. these are ones that we are watching for potential development. and you can see the clusters of storms making their w

they kicked us out this morning. >> reporter: a group of friends who planned to spend the week in this house is now on the road to canada. >> we're heading back to >> yes, 18 hours, straight. >> reporter: today, the one road off the island was a slow-moving mess. >> they won't let us stay. they're going to make us sit in this traffic. >> reporter: the storm is skirt the eastern coastline. but state officials worry it could change its mind. >> there have been times when people have sworn to us that on top of us. >> reporter: fema is shipping bottled water, generators and 300,000 peoples to north carolina and massachusetts. >> we could see watches and warnings continue to move up the east coast. residents to have an evacuation plan ready to go if the evacuation orders are called >> reporter: fema says residents from north carolina to maine should look out for storm surge. a moving wall of water that could do terrible things to low-lying areas, highlighted here in blue. this is cape cod. in the path of earl, and home to half a million summer residents. the winds have already started

>> and from all of us, thanks for watching. we'll see you at 6:00. >> buy for now. >>> tonight on "world news," force of nature, a strange storm in new york, a parade of hurricanes tearing across the ocean, is this evidence of the new age of global warming? >>> force of politics. sarah palin hits iowa. tea party candidates surging against the democrats in three states, and the newest arrival enters the national spotlight today. >>> comedy and challenge. jon stewart announces a big washington rally of his own throwing down a gauntlet on what is fact, what is fury. >>> and our "person of the week," a 9-year-old commanding the attention of the powerful. >>> good evening. as we came on the air last night, we knew a strange storm was descending on new york. but we now know it was something rarely seen in the past 50 years. trees torn up. roofs torn off. cars crushed in a matter of seconds at rush hour. the national weather service experts are puzzling whether it was a tornado evoking that iconic picture in 1976, the tornado near the statue of liberty. after that the armada of hurricane

part of the world where they're used to tornadoes which has so many scratching their heads tonight. >> oh, my god. this is crazy. >> reporter: in a metropolitan area, saturated with smartphone captured from so many angles including these pictures which window. >> am i really in jersey? >> reporter: this storm which brought high winds and lightning strikes did an enormous amount of damage in only about 15 minutes. shutting down the nation's largest commuter rail line, delaying more than 300 flights and knocking down more than a thousand trees. one woman was killed when a tree fell on her parked car right after she traded seats with her husband who survived. >> i keep thinking about is this happens. >> reporter: it spawned tornadoes and softball-size hail by thursday before barreling extreme weather all over the planet. in the u.s. it's been the hottest year ever with major atlantic hurricanes showing up further to the east and to the climate scientists have long predicted as the climate warms extreme weather although the length between frequent tornadoes and climate change is delill